Hammer and Crucible

Name: Hammer and Crucible
Rating: 4.55555534362793 (45 reviews)

Cameron Cooper

Aug 2020 · Imperial Hammer Book 1 · Stories Rule Press

45 reviews

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About this ebook

The interstellar array that links hundreds of worlds has awakened—and it has chosen its enemy.

The Fourth Carinad Empire depends on a vast network of space-folding gates for travel, communication and survival. When that network evolves into a sentient intelligence, it decides the Emperor is a threat that must be removed.

Danny Andela should want nothing to do with either of them. Once feared as the Imperial Hammer, she left the Rangers decades ago with her reputation destroyed and now lives aboard her family’s star barge, waiting for old age to finish the job.

Then Danny discovers that the military disaster that ended her career may not have been a disaster at all. It may have been arranged by the Emperor himself.

The array needs Danny. Danny wants the truth. Their collision could shake an empire spanning thousands of light-years.

Hammer and Crucible is Book 1 of the Imperial Hammer series: fast-moving space opera packed with political intrigue, artificial intelligence, action, dark humor and a battle-scarred heroine who has survived long enough to become dangerous all over again.

Imperial Hammer

Book 1: Hammer and Crucible

Book 1.1: An Average Night on Androkles

Book 2: Star Forge

Book 3: Long Live the Emperor

Book 4: Severed

Book 5: Destroyer of Worlds

Book 5.5: The Imperial Hammer Series Box Set

Praise and Kudos for Hammer and Crucible:

Fourth place in Hugh Howey's Self-Published Science Fiction Contest

This was a fun, fast paced read full of action and humor.

I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.

Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!

He builds the scenes in a way that I feel as though I am actually walking long the ship’s corridors and I can totally relate to all of the characters.

I loved Hammer and Crucible! Couldn’t put it down.

The plot is fascinating; it is intricate as well as filled with surprises and action.

This is a read that really sucks you in!

Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.

Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.

The interstellar array that links hundreds of worlds has awakened—and it has chosen its enemy. The Fourth Carinad Empire depends on a vast network of space-folding gates for travel, communication and survival. When that network evolves into a sentient intelligence, it decides the Emperor is a thr...

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Ratings and reviews

45 reviews

Duane Wright

January 8, 2024

I'm a huge sifi fan. This is the first story by Cooper that I've read. I am really impressed! The thing about reading a really well written story is that the author can put you in the character's head, you feeling their emotions, their thoughts...so much better than the best movie can portray. Cooper does it right!

Brian Appleton

January 7, 2024

As a reader of S/F since the 1940s, I was pleasently surprised when reading Hammer and Crucible. The Author has traces of Asimov and Heinlein in his writing. It is a book to keep you reading as often as possible (forget those chores for a day or two). I feel sure that other bookworms will agree that it is worth visiting more than once. Thank you Cameron for the best read I have had for quite a while.

Ingrid Savell

September 23, 2020

Wow, what an exciting story with more plot twists and surprises than a high mountain switchback road! The complex concepts of the space-based life were broken into easy-to-read bites making this adventure totally captivating! I was fascinated by the gradually revealed machinations as the mysteries of past events unfolded to reveal the full picture of what had really happened. It seems like a slow introduction until suddenly I felt like I'd been dropped into exciting events that contain exhilarating elements of suspense and mystery. I had no idea of what would be uncovered from the past, and how it would affect their present, from one moment to the next. This first book in the series has great closure but I'm hooked and keen to know what happens next in this space opera series.

About the author

Cameron Cooper writes fast-moving, character-driven science fiction filled with big ideas, political intrigue, expansive worlds, and people facing extraordinary circumstances. Best known for the Imperial Hammer space opera series, Cameron also writes military science fiction, SF crime, dystopian and alternate-history fiction, and hopepunk.

Cameron’s publishing career began in 1999 and spans both traditional and independent publishing. Cameron placed fourth in Hugh Howey’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition #2, and the novella Quiet Like Fire was an Aurealis Award finalist for Best Science Fiction Novella.

Cameron Cooper is the science fiction pen name of Tracy Cooper-Posey. An Australian-Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada, where she writes science fiction fueled by Irish Breakfast tea, chocolate, and a stubborn belief that the future is still worth fighting for.

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